Welcome back, Sandy
I hope to sell a new romantic suspense at the ACFW
conference in September. Now that we’ve settled into our new life in Texas , I hope to keep on
writing and getting books out there. I’m really excited about this next story.
Good. I hope to see
you there. I’m going, too. Tell us a little about your family.
My favorite subject! I’ve been married 40 years to a man who
became and remains my very best friend. We have one daughter who married her
best friend. We were blessed when they adopted two babies thirteen months apart
who are now 4 and 3. Then we were blessed again when our daughter gave birth to
a baby boy. He’s now 10 months old. We moved from Colorado
to Texas just
last year so we could be a part of our grandkid’s lives. And we haven’t
regretted it one minute. One other family tidbit: my mom just turned 90 years
young a month ago. We all got to be in Wisconsin
to celebrate with her.
That’s awesome. Has
your writing changed your reading habits? If so, how?
I write contemporary, so I tend to read more to the genre I
write. But I also love historicals, so one of those slips in from time to time.
Always from the inspirational market.
I write a lot of
historicals, but the book that release on Kindle later this week is a romantic
collection, and my book is contemporary. What are you working on right now?
As I mentioned, I have a romantic suspense going. Many years
ago, back in my small mountain town in Colorado ,
I wrote a community news column for the local paper. I did that for twelve
years. When brainstorming with a friend on what new project to start, she
suggested I glean from that position. So I have my poor heroine getting herself
into all sorts of trouble due to her job of finding the facts and the bad guy.
My working tag line for it is: She knows she’ll make her deadline, but what if
it’s her own?
I tend to have a lot of ideas rolling, and I had also
started one on a female woodworker. I really liked the way that story was going
too, but I had to pick one to concentrate on.
What outside
interests do you have?
My grandkids! They occupy most of my time and I love it. I
am trying my hand at growing veggies here in TX, but that is a learning
process. Maybe next year will go better. I also enjoy woodworking, crafts,
crocheting (I just helped out with my church’s VBS crocheting different pieces
of coral for the “coral reef” in the play. It turned out amazing! A lot of
hands helped it come alive.) I LOVE to travel and we camp as often as we can.
How do you choose
your settings for each book?
We spent thirty years living in Colorado . My husband and I loved to go
four-wheeling and exploring, so we discovered a lot of places that most people
don’t get to. Not a day went by that we didn’t appreciate where we lived. We
never took it for granted. Since it is such a beautiful place, and adventure
can be found at every turn, there’s no better setting when I include a lot of
adventure in my books. There’s a lifetime of stories in those mountains.
My latest historical,
which released in December—A Heart’s Gift—is
set in Colorado
That’s a tough question. There’s so many. Several from the
Bible, but I’ll probably meet most of them in heaven. So maybe, sticking to my
adventure theme, I’d love to spend time with one of the explorers who took the
chance on heading west to discover lands never seen before. I’d love to find
out about their motivations, their hopes, and their fears at the time. The
dangers they faced. The fun they had and their reactions to the amazing beauty
they discovered along the way.
Imagine being the first person to see a mountain range.
What is the one thing
you wish you had known before you started writing novels?
Grow a thick skin first, then you can roll with the punches
of a very hard business.
What new lessons is
the Lord teaching you right now?
The ladies Bible study I attend is going through a guide
about Nurturing a Heart of Humility
by Elizabeth George. Of course, it’s mostly about Mary, the mother of Jesus,
who had such a heart of humility. Yesterday, it really struck me that even back
in the biblical days, people rejected Jesus. Especially in His home town. As we
look at the world today, it’s a lot of the same thing. People rejecting Truth,
rejecting Christ. With the daily news, social media, computers, the rejection
is more known. It breaks my heart that so many turn their faces away from
truth. Proverbs 1:7 tells us that fear of the Lord is the beginning of
knowledge. It’s not saying we should be afraid of God, but saying that if we
believe in Him and have a reverence (fear, respect) then He will reveal more
and more to us. Knowledge. It leads to growth!
What are the three
best things you can tell other authors to do to be successful?
Grow that thick skin!
Join ACFW or another great writer’s group and learn. And
network.
Write. Then write some more. Then write even more. Keep
writing until you have it figured out. Which means, you will write forever! But
love it.
Rescue Me is a special story to me. My husband was a volunteer
firefighter for over 4 years. He also became an EMT and served as the Director
of Emergency Medical Services for our small town in Minnesota . (That was a lot of years ago.) In
the story, the heroine lost her firefighter father in a bad fire as he tried to
save another firefighter. Ronnie struggles through accepting that loss and
understanding why God would take her dad while he was doing something so
heroic. One of the problems she has is that she followed her dad into that line
of work by becoming a rescue squad person. She had been dating Steve, a
firefighter, until her dad died. Then she swore off dating firefighters to
avoid the kind of loss her family suffered. But Steve isn’t ready to give up
their relationship and he works to help her through her grief and anger at God.
It’s filled with adventure and emergency calls all set in the Colorado foothills. And falling in love
again.
Please give us the
first page of the book.
It opens with Steve in a precarious situation where HE needs
rescuing. Ronnie and the team have to come to his rescue. Here it is:
“I can’t believe this.” Steve McNeal reached down again to
try to move the rock that trapped his foot. Pain shot through his entire leg
and cold dots of perspiration chilled his forehead. He rested against the
granite boulder trying to ignore his throbbing ankle and to slow his heartbeat.
Of course this had to happen. How could he have been so stupid as to try to
scramble between the boulders alone? How many times had he scaled this boulder
field? A shortcut to the trail.
Brilliant idea.
Bracing both arms against the cold, rough granite on either
side of him, he pushed with his free leg against a flatter area of one boulder,
trying to get some relief from the pressure on his trapped foot. No doubt about
it. This was a definite problem.
Steve scanned the sloping hillside that held the trail,
which wound around the boulders that now held him hostage. The view was limited
from his position, but at least he’d made his way down facing forward so he
could look out instead of at the rock behind him.
Unbelievable. Ten feet from the ground, the trail right
there, freedom so close and yet absolutely unattainable. Ow! He had to get his
foot out. Or quit moving.
How could there be no one on the trail today? He twisted his
upper body to look up at the boulders. “Anybody up there?” He quickly
straightened. Ouch, OK that hurts. He reached into his pocket and pulled out
his cellphone for the tenth time. Still no bars. What did he expect? Suddenly
he’d have signal?
Cell towers were not a popular thing among the dwellers of
the foothills southwest of Denver .
“Lord, a little help here?”
“Hey, Mister.”
It might as well have been a voice from heaven. Relief let
some of the tension out of his shoulders. He strained to see the face that
peered over the edge of the rocks above.
“What’cha doin’ down there?”
“Hey kid, I’m uh…stuck. Can you go get some help?” Steve’s
arm slid against the granite and a little skin peeled off as he tried to look
up at the boy. More pain burned a path through his leg, and he gritted his
teeth to keep from moaning. His forehead tightly furrowed. He didn’t want to
look like a sissy in front of the kid.
“Who are you talking to?” A female voice asked.
“There’s a guy down there.”
“Oh, my. Are you OK?”
Seriously? Do I look
OK? “No ma’am. I appear to be trapped by a rock. Can you get a call out for
help?” Steve couldn’t see much of her between his position and only her eyes
peeking over the edge.
“I don’t have a signal. We’ll go where we can get one. Hang
in there.”
Not much choice. “Thanks.”
The footsteps moved away. Back to the quiet of the woods.
Steve tried to remember where the cell signals could be received in the park.
He never really paid attention while out here. Making a call was the last thing
he wanted to do while hiking. He hoped they wouldn’t have to go all the way to
the parking lot. They’d have to wait for the crew, and then get back up here.
That would add at least thirty or forty more minutes to his confinement than he
cared to think about.
He dreaded which of his colleagues would be on duty today
with rescue, not to mention the fire department. Was Ronnie on today? As the
climbing expert on the department, it was likely she’d respond. He liked seeing
her anytime, but not under these circumstances, given the choice. This ranked
right up there as his most humiliating moment. Well, maybe not, but at the
moment it felt that way. The fact that she wouldn’t want to see him didn’t
help.
It’s a fun opening. There’s several light-hearted moments in
the book. And I’d like to mention, Rescue Me was endorsed by Tracie
Peterson, author of over one hundred much loved books. You can read her
endorsement on Amazon.
Yes, I read the book and
loved it. How can readers find you on the Internet?
I love to hear from people. Check me out at:
Twitter: @sandynadeauCO
Thank you, Sandy
Readers,
here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this
blog.
Rescue Me
- PaperbackRescue Me - Kindle
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